Refrigerator, including a frozen food thawing apparatus



March 22, 1949. M. v. MAscioLl ETAL 2,465,107

' v REFRIGERATOR, INCLUDING FROZEN FOOD THAWING APPARATUS Filed sept. e, 1946 @Yawn/,M

Patented Mar. 22, 1949 REFRIGERATOR, INCLUDING A FROZEN `FODD THAWING APPARATUS Mario V. Mascioli and Anthony T. Buono, Philadelphia, Pa., assignors to Philco Corporation, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application ASeptember 6, 1946, Serial No. 695,154

2 claims. (ci. ca -ss) y The present invention relates to refrigeratingA apparatus, and has for its-primary object the provision of a household refrigerator adapted to thaw frozen foodstuffs in a rapid, eiiicient and economical manner.

It is an additional, more specific object of the present invention to provide a refrigerator lncluding thawing apparatus of such a nature as to utilize heat rejected to the atmosphere by the condensing unit, thereby simultaneously to provide for cooling of said unit and thawing of the frozen substances.

To the foregoing general ends, the invention contemplates the provision of an enclosure located in the vicinity of a suitable source of heat such, for example, as the condensing unit, in novel combination with means adapted to promote a circulatory flow of air through said' enclosure and in heat exchange relation with said source of heat. In the embodiment illustrated, the apparatus for promoting such circulatory flow comprises air-flow passages so disposed, with respect to :both the condensing unit and the frozen substances, as to establish a thermo-sy-phon circulation of air through the enclosure and past the condensing unit.

Ther manner in which the foregoing, together with other objects and advantages are achieved in one representative embodiment of the invention, will be best understood by reference to the following specification and to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure lis a fragmentary elevational view of a refrigerator incorporating the present invention, portions of the structure being broken away to facilitate illustration; and,

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken through the apparatus of Figure 1.

Making more detailed reference to the drawing, there is illustrated the lower portion of a household refrigerator indicated generally by the reference numeral I0, said refrigerator including an upper food storage compartment II and a. lower machine compartment I2, housing the condensing unit which latter includes a motor-compressor shown at I3 and a condenser I4. For the purposes of the present invention, any suitable evaporator system may be utilized -to effect cooling of the compartment I I, and such system need not -be illustrated or described herein.

In thev embodiment illustrated, the enclosure adapted to receive the frozen food takes the form of a bin, indicated at I5 which, as shown in broken lines in Figure 2, may be tilted forwardly to aiord access' thereto. This bln is provided 2 with a rear wall I6 and lateral walls I1, the top of the enclosure being open, as clearly appears in Figure 1, to afford access of heated air to the interior of the bin across the top of the Wall I6. Support structure, including a perforated shelf I8 and a vertical rack I9, is adapted to support packages of frozen food shown at 20, it being understood that such packages would be placed within thebin in spaced relation, to provide for free circulation of air therearound. Since this air is raised to a relatively elevated temperature by the heat rejected by the condensing unit, circulation of such air through the bin will elect rapid thawing of the frozen substances.

To effect such circulation, the rear wall I6 of the enclosure is apertured, as shown at 2|, at a level below the level at which the Ipackages 20 are supported. In operation of the apparatus, the ambient air within the machine compartment I2 is heated by the motor-compressor Iand the condenser, and as represented by the arrows appearing in the drawing, this heated air rises along the condenser, flows forwardly into the bin I5, and there gives up -a yportion of its heat to the packages 20. As a result of the cooling thus effected, the air then flows downwardly past the packages, and out through the apertures 2l, to then be drawn upwardly again past the condenser I4. Thus, a thermo-syphon circulation of air is established within the compartment I2, such circulation serving not only to thaw the substances placed within the enclosure I5, but also to assist in the cooling of the condensing unit.

As shown in the drawing, provision is made to collect such moisture as may be given up by the thawing of the substances contained within the packages 20, this being accomplished by delivering the moisture to -a drain aperture 22 from whence it ows into a container shown at 23. It will be recognized that the moisture so collected will be vaporized :by the heat rejected by the condensing unit, thus obviating any problem of moisture disposal and further assisting in the maintenance of the thermal gradient required between the condenser and the ambient air.

While a representative embodiment of the invention has been described herein, and illustrated -in the accompanying drawing, it is' evident that changes and modifications may be made therein without ldeparting from the spirit of the present invention. However, it will be recognized that such changes are contemplated as may come within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In refrigeration apparatus, a machine com- `said compartment in a position such that said air is afforded free access to said receptacle :through the open top thereof. said receptacle be- -ing provided with an aperture in a lower portion of one wall thereof, said aperture providing for passage oi air from the interior of said receptacle toward said condensing unit, and means within said receptacle adapted to support frozen substances in a position intermediate the open top oi' the receptacle and said aperture. theconstruction and arrangement being such that air heated by said condensing unit flows into said receptacle through the open top thereof, gives up a portion of its heat to the said frozen substances to thaw the same, and as a result of the cooling thus efi'ected ows downwardly past the irozen sub- 20 Number stances and out through said aperture to be drawn upwardly again past the condensing unit.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1, and further including means for collecting moisture resulting from the thawing process. said last means being disposed within the machine coml partment in heat exchange relation with said ecndensing unit.

MARIO "V. MASCIOLI. l ANTHONY T. BUONO.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the 111e of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 16 Number Name Date 2,304,411 Keighly Dec. 8, 1942 2,388,746 Knapp Nov. 13, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date 507,135 Germany Sept. 12, 1930 

